“I was just thinking about you.”

It can be surprising when you’ve been thinking about someone a lot, and then you hear from them. With your kids, who are always in your thoughts, it might not count as surprising, but it’s a delightful coincidence. For me, it’s perfect timing that Bella and her mother, Mpumi, are coming for a visit from Johannesburg. They’ll arrive in August, just a few weeks after the publication of my second book, “Find Your Rainbow: Inspirations for Children.” I’ll be able to embrace them with my love and support in person and also give them my heartfelt messages in writing to read another hour, another day, over a lifetime. Bella’s at a rapidly changing age, not quite 2 years old, and it’s her age that makes the trip more affordable. She isn’t required to have her own plane ticket until her 2nd birthday. Her dad (our son, Jason) will stay home in South Africa with Mpumi’s 7-year-old son, Kelo. Three generations of women, including my daughter, Kristine, will show Bella a Midwest summer – at the zoo, at our lake cabin near Starbuck, Minn., and at a weekend wedding where she’ll meet many members of her extended family. Who knows how much she’ll remember, but she will surely feel the shower of love, and, of course, there will be a lot of pictures taken. You know they’ll be part of the personal photo pages in her “Inspirations for Children” book.